dragon
Member 1535
22 entries
57381 views

 RSS
Contributor to projects:
The great enhancement debate
The Total Library
Polytopia
(M, 22)
AU
Immortal since Jan 24, 2008
Uplinks: 0, Generation 3
Interests: nanotech, religion, philosophy, language, morality, self-deceit, instinct, bigotry, dancing, loving, hating & chemistry. I'm not particularly well suited to small talk.
  • Affiliated
    •  /  
  • Invited
    •  /  
  • Descended
    • dragon’s favorites
    From shandora
    We Come In Peace
    From Reckon
    Switchgrass Bioplastics
    From Robokku
    Living the lives of...
    From Rourke
    An Appendix: Logos vs...
    From rene
    Virtual Bodies, Virtual...
    Recently commented on
    From AsylumSeaker
    [no title]
    From BenRayfield
    Multiverse Branch Is...
    From dragon
    We're all little cogs
    From
    "Only the madman is...
    From dragon
    Distraction.
    dragon’s projects
    Polytopia
    The human species is rapidly and indisputably moving towards the technological singularity. The cadence of the flow of information and innovation in...

    The Total Library
    Text that redefines...

    The great enhancement debate
    What will happen when for the first time in ages different human species will inhabit the earth at the same time? The day may be upon us when people...
    Now playing SpaceCollective
    Where forward thinking terrestrials share ideas and information about the state of the species, their planet and the universe, living the lives of science fiction. Introduction
    Featuring Powers of Ten by Charles and Ray Eames, based on an idea by Kees Boeke.
    From dragon's personal cargo

    untitled
    why & how do we still live in a society where an individual cannot do whatever he wants provided he does not harm anyone else?

    Wed, May 26, 2010  Permanent link

      RSS for this post
    6 comments
      Promote
      
      Add to favorites
    Create synapse
     
    Comments:


    Infinitas     Thu, May 27, 2010  Permanent link
    The government lives in fear of what people are actually capable of so they want to control everything. Government is growing so much and is controlling more aspects of our lives (it's borderline mind-control) through the media and ridiculous regulations of practically everything. They think they know what's best for the people...which is outrageous because I'm the only one who knows what's best for me; give me some suggestions and a choice, but do not force me. Sure, there are people that don't know shit and need to be led, but that's because the government more or less put them into positions where they can't help themselves.

    Unfortunately, the government's role has changed from the servants of the people to the rulers of the people, and it has all happened right underneath our noses.

    But that's not to say I'm pessimistic about our situation. Once the Sun fries all of our satellites or some equivalent "catastrophe" occurs that forces the government to act in an even more controlling way (dictatorship, martial law, etc), only then will the people wake up and find the opportunity to save humanity.
    dragon     Sat, May 29, 2010  Permanent link
    And here I was thinking it was just me and the other conspiracy nuts who had a bone to pick with the established order! I think it's of the utmost importance that we are at all times aware of what it is we are capable of doing. Because, undeniably, that is scary. The Government has every right to be scared shitless into controlling everything. But yeah, as you've said and I paraphrase, they're putting us slowly into cages, and backed into a corner we no longer have flight as an option.

    Anarchy almost seems like the natural world order.
    meganmay     Sat, May 29, 2010  Permanent link
    I just read that more pedestrians die in crosswalks than when jay-walking.
    Schmuck     Sat, May 29, 2010  Permanent link
    An interesting way to look at it is that the government, while seeming like a huge entity, is just people.
    We have as much capability as they do. "Government" is just a label put around a group of completely equivalent people to give the illusion of dominance and power, and for the most part, it works.
    We're subtly conditioned to accept things as "the way it is", to submit to the established order as though it was a force of nature.
    That acceptance from the people is what every established governance relies on, and they enforce it through things like military strength, media, even voting, to give you the illusion that it is you who controls.
    In truth, all of these things are dependent on people, and when you realize that everything the government needs to exist is separate from them, you see that it is the government that is irrelevant and not the individual.

    And so the reason we still live in a society where an individual cannot do whatever he wants, is because this very notion must be suppressed in any way possible in order for this system to perpetuate itself.
    dragon     Sun, May 30, 2010  Permanent link
    I think the problem is very simple.

    A: Hey, do you want to be free?
    B: Of course!
    A: Then I have to take away some of your freedoms. There are some things you just can't do, if you want to live freely that is anyway. That's what freedom really means. I know it's hard to understand.
    B: But why?
    A: Because otherwise I might lose the freedom to take your freedoms away.
    B: Oh, that makes perfect sense.
    Infinitas     Tue, Jun 1, 2010  Permanent link
    One of my favorites quotes from Ben Franklin.

    "He who gives up freedom in order to gain security deserves neither and loses both."
     
          Cancel